Burn the Truth
by TFS
Summary: The train rumbles under the feet of the two teens, one absorbed into his music, one into his novel.  Both are about to get tossed into something that, frankly, neither are prepared for.  But of course, they will prevail.  It's what Fools do.
1. Minato 1

As the train rumbles underfoot, a youth sits alone, uncaring of all around him.

The young man just wants to get shit over with. There's been too much moving, too many lost friends, to care enough to actually try anymore.

The train rumbles to a stop, and he takes his headphones off in time to hear the location, Inaba.

With a sigh, he lifts himself from the bucket seat, and sways out the door, into the light.

* * *

><p>As I blink the sun out of my eyes, a man say "Oh, there he is."<p>

I turn towards the voice, and see a slightly scruffy man standing there, with a young girl, presumedly his daughter. With a slight grin, I walk over to him, and stick my hand out. "Nice to meet you."

He laughs, and takes my hand. "I've changed your diapers, no need to be so formal. I'm Ryotaro Dojima, and this is my daughter Nanako. But you already know that. Welcome to Inaba!"

"Thanks. Hopefully, it'll be a little more, ah, hospitable than the other places I've been."

"Well what are we standing around for? Come on, the car's over here. Don't worry, your luggage is already at the house."

* * *

><p>The ride back was fairly uneventful. There was a creepy gas station attendant, and talk of jobs, but thats about it.<p>

I'm feeling kinda sick for some reason, probably because of too much fresh air or something, so after a little bit of talking, and Dojima getting called out to work, I just head upstairs and pass out.

When I open my eyes, I'm standing on a path of cubes, surrounded by fog.

Ah, son of a bitch.

I wander down the path for a while, almost fall off the first turn, and hear a voice "Do you seek the Truth?"

I keep going a little longer, and hear it again. "if it's the truth you desire, come find me."

This... This doesn't seem like a good idea. But I keep going straight, until I see this cube door thing. The second I touch it, it folds up into itself.

A flash of light later, and I'm standing on nothingness, facing off with a silhouette. After it trash talks me, I think,I walk up and stab it a couple times. It doesn't feel like I hit. I try some more times, and the shadow in front of me starts spewing fog, making the area even less visible. I can't see him anymore, so I just keep my guard up, until I feel the fog overwhelm me into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>I gasp myself awake, in a minor sweat over a dream I just had, even though I can't remember what it was. I hate that. After showering and dressing in the admittedly badass school uniform, I head downstairs and eat some breakfast with Nanako. I help her wash up some, then she kindly points me to my school. She really is a sweet kid.<p>

As I'm walking, I see this idiot ride past me on a bike, while trying to hold an umbrella. Of course, he crashes into a pole. I chuckle lightly, and leave him to his fate.

Oh, wait. Where the hell is my classroom?

Ah, yes, Faculty Room. I knock and open the door and ohmygod what the christ is wrong with this guys teeth?

Breath in.

"The hell do you want?"

Breath out. Cheery face. "Hello, I'm transfering into this school today. I never got any indication as to what homeroomI had, though."

"Oh, You. Yea, your in my homeroom. You better not get any funny ideas, dammit! This aint your big city."

Repress twitch. Smile wider. "Why of course not, that was the furthest thing from my mind!"

* * *

><p>We walk into the room, and everyone shuts up the second they see the teacher.<p>

"Awright, shut up. I'm Kinshiro Mooroka, your new homeroom teacher. Let's get somethin' straight, just cause it's Spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like rabbits! As long as your in my class, you're gonna be pure as the driven snow."

This guy's pretty bloody creepy. I already got a bad feeling about this school. Shit. I didn't think such nice uniforms could deceive me.

"Now I hate wasting my time, but I gottaa introduce this Transfer Student. This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. He's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hittin on 'im!"

Okay. Lines have been crossed already.

"Tell em your name kid, and make it quick."

"..."

"Well? You shy or somethin'?"

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that?"

Oh my, aren't his eyes wide.

I cut him off as his mouth opens. "I mean, you don't even know me. How the hell would you know why I'm here, or what I'm like? Why are you even teaching if you hate everyone so damn much? Actually, I'm deeply hurt by your defamation of my character like that. Why, I think that could be grounds for an investigation, neh? I mean, that's just such a self esteem killer, I'm surprised I'm not crying."

He finally gets a word in. "You're in my damn shit list. Now listen up! This town is far away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one!

"Not that far, apparently, considering you live here."

He twitched. Success.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you belittle your students, which is an asshole-ish behavior, of course, and you're oddly interested in your female students purity. I mean, tha-"

"Get the hell out of my classroom."

Excellent.

I turn on my heel, switching to my chesire grin as I face the class, and walk straight out the door.

* * *

><p>Lucky for me, the rain stopped earlier, so I don't need to keep my umbrella open. I walk out the gate, cracking my neck, and decide to wander the city some. Whistling a merry tune, I pop my headphones in and get to it.<p>

Well, I did, until I saw a damn body hanging from an antenna.


	2. Souji 1

I close my book and step off the train, on the way to my new home, for the next year, anyways.

Around midnight, things get really odd looking, but weirder stuff has happened, so I continue on my way. The dorm is coming up. now, actually.

I slide my keycard through the lock, and the door PINGS! open.

I step inside, and a small, creepy lad holds a velvet blue contract up to my face. I put my name down, and he spins out of existence, after telling me time waits for no one. Disturbing.

As I turn to take in the area, I notice a brunette staring me down.

I didn't know this place was co-ed. Or maybe I got assigned to the wron- Ah, hell. That's a pistol holster, isn't it?

"Who are you?"

Ah, double hell.

She starts towards the holster, and just before I dive for the counter, I hear another voice yell "Wait!"

A mature looking redhead just came down the stairs, and stopped me from getting shot at. A point for her.

Apparently, "I guess we'll see" if I fit in here or not. That sounds kind of ominous.

The brunette, acting kind of like a bitch, leads me to my room. I tell her I don't need to know anything else, and she leaves fairly quickly after that. I suppose I'm not the most well-liked person quite yet.

* * *

><p>I get up early, so I have a chance to examine the school before I need to be to class. Being out over the ocean at sunrise is an amazing experience. It's quite beautiful.<p>

I made it to school, but it's pretty empty, all considered, so I wandered for a bit. There was a board set up, and a post-it with my name on it, telling me to go the office. I went, but the only person there was the nurse, and he didn't exactly look like he was all there, so I left him alone and started looking around the school. It was all pretty normal looking, until I went through an open air hallway that had a medium sized permisson tree in it. I decided take a seat up against it, and pulled a novel out of my bag.

By the time I remember to check my watch, I only have about 10 minutes to find my class. I shove the book in my bag, and tear across the school back to the office.

The teacher inside looks pretty young, somewhere around her late 20's at most.

"Hello, I'm new. There was a note on the board telling me to come to the office?"

"Oh, yes. You're in my home room. Come on, we're almost late. Just follow me up."

I slip into my seat bare seconds before the bell rings, and the boy in front of me introduces himself as Junpei, and tells me how much it sucks to be the new kid. We shoot the breeze for a few minutes, until we get called down for some speech.

It had nothing to do with me, so naturally, I got my book back out. I think something poked me in the back once or twice, but I didn't look up until Junpei yelled "HEY!" when the speech ended. That was nice of him.

* * *

><p>Back at the dorm, I didn't have much to do, really, so I just went back to my room and took a nap. The nap lasted 15 hours.<p>

* * *

><p>At school, at least three girls asked me if I was related to an "Akihiko Sanada", but I have no idea who he is.<p>

The rest of the day is relatively uneventful. As I walk into the dorm later that night, though, a litany of terrible puns bombard me. I twitch and bear it, ignoring the man spouting them, and returning to my room.

* * *

><p>In my dreams, I happen to be called to a certain blue room, where I get told multiple things, and remember quite a bit else.<p>

* * *

><p>The next night, as I fall asleep, what feels like an explosion rocks the dorm.<p>

Before I manage to get to the hallway, the brunette, Yukari, pounds on my door, and opens it, yelling about leaving through the back.

Halfway down the stairs, I start hearing yells and gunshots. I turn and go straight back up them, towards the roof.

Now, this would have been an amazing idea, but Yukari slams the door shut before I get a chance to see if it locks on close. Which, of course, it does.

Small blobbish creatures flow over the side of the roof. Around three or four feet in diameter, with what looks like arms propelling them along, it's quite obvious these aren't normal things. The fact that the sky is green and there are puddles of blood everywhere further confirms this.

The girl throws me a length of pipe as the creatures rush towards us.

She pulls her bow back, and manages to hit one in the mask, dissolving it into smoke, while I swing my pipe like a golf club, crushing the one next to it.

Well, that wasn't so toug- Oh, dammit.

At least a dozen arms, each armed with a long blade, come smashing over the side, into the rooftop, launching a much larger blob creature with it.

The girl tries to shoot herself with the pistol, but the monster smashes her to the side with one of the blades, cutting through her cardigan and into the what-looks-like-body-armor underneath it.

The pistol skids to a stop in front of me, in the center of a puddle of blood.

The creepy child from earlier mimes shooting himself.

"I have no need for that."

A card appears above my hand.

"IZANAGI!"

Crash.

My original persona comes rushing out from me, and catches one of the monsters arms with his weapon, cleanly slicing it off.

The rest of the arms, though, crush in upon him like a tidal wave. The psychic backlash from it knocks me onto my back, gasping in pain.

By the time I come back to my senses, the redheaded girl, Mitsuru, and a silver-headed boy (Who must be Akihiko, now that I'm thinking of it. The hair must have thrown some people off) have rushed onto the roof, and are pushing back the enemy, and manage to throw it off the roof. I drag myself to the side, only to see it crawling away, towards the massive tower on the horizon.

I blink once or twice at the glow, before promptly passing out.

* * *

><p>AN: Well, there's chapter 1 of Souji's story. Let me know what you think, aye?<p> 


	3. Minato 2

Oh, son of a lice ridden bitch, this shit always happens to me. Deep breath. Nope. I'm not getting dragged into this bullshit again. I turn on my heel, and turn the corner directly into a girl.

"Okay, trust me on this one, you shouldn't turn the corner."

With an odd look, she turns the corner anyway, and screams.

Times like this, I wish I was back home.

* * *

><p>After a hell of a lot of stuff that I would really rather not put up with, I climb into the car with Dojima.<p>

"First things first, why weren't you in the school?

"You know a guy by the name of Morooka?"

Dojima kind of grimaced.

"Yes, actually. He's the worst teacher I've ever heard of."

"Oh, you to? Yea, he insulted me, so I got him to kick me out."

Good ol' Dojima actually pulled over just so he could stare at me for a couple of seconds. He's such a safe driver.

"How about you don't leave the house at night for a week and we call it even? I mean, I may not like the guy, but there need to be consequences for things, y'know?"

I smile. "I totally agree. Just don't be surprised if it happens once or twice more before he either attempts to expel me or switches me to a different class."

He just sighs and continues the drive.

* * *

><p>We walk into the house, Nanako yells welcome home (so adorable), and, happily enough, she already made dinner.<p>

We ate in relative silence. The news came on, announcing the body I found. She goes by the name of "Mayumi Yamano", whom I've never heard of, and is apparently a television announcer.

Well, whatever. It's none of my business.

The next day, after school, this girl Chie tells me how cool it was to stand up to Morooka and whatnot. Her friend Yukiko is kinda... Shy, it seems. A guy named Yosuke comes up, and offers me some steak for some reason, but Free Food, so I take him up on it. And we would have had some good-ass steak, but the girl butts in on it, complaining about a broken DVD or some shit. So we have to get what looks like mall steak, because a whole 300 more yen woulda bankrupted the boy. Mid-snack, the girl that cause me so much fucking trouble earlier comes over, and basically tells me Yosuke is an asshole, and leaves. The enitre damned time, Yosuke has The Look. The "I would love you forever!" type of look. I'm not seeing it. She's kind of a bitch, and not exactly that much to look at. But to each his own, I suppose.

* * *

><p>Nanako does an adorable rendition of the Junes theme song, (Junes is apparently the place I got taken to. I don't pay attention to much) but that's about it for the day. I don't even have anything to do at night yet, so I just go to sleep.<p>

The next day Yosuke tells me the girl that yelled to me yesterday is apparently missing. He better not ask me to fucking help him look.

He doesn't, luckily, and just looks odd for a while.

After school, me and Yosuke go to Junes again, and some housewives bitch about him, he doesn't make a deal of it.

So apparently, Yosuke's pop is the manager of Junes. Ya learn something new every day.

* * *

><p>Next day, they find another body.<p>

It's the girl from Junes. Also known as the girl who found the body.

They also find her in the same position as Yamano.

Seems like we've got us a serial killer.

We do have cops for a reason, though, so I'm just going to do my own thing. And at the moment, 'My own thing' is checking out this Midnight Channel I've heard so much about.

I wake up the next morning with a fucking terrible headache. ... Woah, wait a minute.

My TV just fucking bit me.

Oh hell no.

After class, I ask Yosuke "Does your store have a flat screen TV?"

He says they have on on display, so I smirk and tell him we have somewhere to go.

Chie follows us around for some ungodly reason.

I tell them that something in my TV bit me.

They laugh.

Well, until I shove my hand into a TV.

Chomp.

"I'll fucking kill you!" And go to dive into the TV.

Yosuke and Chie grab me.

Yosuke doesn't want me breaking the TV.

Chie wants me to get a weapon.

I'm starting to like her.

* * *

><p>So this scarred up guy is surprisingly cool with high schoolers buying weaponry.<p>

After Yosuke and Chie leave, we talk about a little bit of... Special business.

I picked up a short sword, well, more like a long dagger. Yosuke has two of the same knife.

He demands to go in with me.

Sigh.

Whatever. We make it back to Junes, and I grab the top of the TV and sling myself in.

Its a good six foot drop, but I got lucky and didn't smash my face into the floor.

Yosuke has the luck of a... Something. Something without luck. He actually lands on one of his knives. He's lucky it only grazes his arm.

So I'm looking around for whatever the fuck bit me, when I hear godawful noises from behind me. Like shoes squeaking on a gym floor.

It's a weird looking bear thing.

Yosuke goes into asshole mode and starts yelling at it, while I just try to figure out what the hell it is.

Then he rips its head off.

An abyss stares into me.

I stab it a few times.

Yosuke is gibbering.

The thing puts its head back on angrily, and starts yelling at us for throwing people in here.

"Did you bite me?"

He looks at me. "I bit something that looks like your hand."

"Twice?"

"Tasted good."

Rage Mode Activate.

* * *

><p>So I blink back into myself, and notice I got to a liquor store.<p>

The bear is hiding behind a shelf, and Yosuke is standing in the middle of the store, staring upwards.

I hear the dead girl talking.

This is weird.

She says Yosuke is an asshole again, but apparently less subtle.

He denies for a bit, then another Yosuke voice kicks in.

What the hell?

* * *

><p>"NO! YOU'RE NOT ME!"<p>

The figure laughs. "Yea, you're right. I'm not you. Not anymore." The laugh gets louder, as he bursts into smoke.

Aw, hell.

A weird frog-man thing is staring me down from the smoke.

Ah.

So this is how its going to be.

I chuckle at it,

Then I pull a tube out of my pocket, lay it against my temple, and press the bottom.

A bullet rips through my skull, throwing what looks like shards of blue glass all through the air.

My favorite Persona, Orpheus, comes screaming out of my head, and smashes the Shadow in the side of the head with his harp.

I can't resummon him because I only had the one bullet, but I CAN just leave him out. Even if it's a drain.

"Tarunda!"

The shadow swings at me with limp wrists, barely nicking my arm.

I jump up on his leg, and rush towards his head.

Its eyes widen, and it summons a huge gust of wind that blasts me across the room. Well shit. "Agi!"

Fire blasts into the things leg, burning it enough to make it stumble around and slip on some broken bottles of alchohol.

OH!

I have orpheus coat my hand in flame, and start flinging burning bottles of booze at the thing.

It flings them right back at me, with another gust of wind. A few bottles explode on me, but the fire doesn't hurt as much as the damned shards of glass covered in alchohol.

"JUST DIE!"

I run at it again, managing to barely dodge a couple blasts of wind, and jump towards the head.

I fall short, at least until Orpheus lifts me up and slings me downwards.

The knife crushes into the frogs skull.

* * *

><p>Yosuke, staring up at Jiraya, mumbles "So this is my persona."<p>

I give him a few minutes to let it sink in.

Then I get bored, so I grab him and pull him outside.

That seems to have knocked him out of his stupor.

"So that's why the fog kills people..."

Teddie chimes in with "Yep! When the fog lifts on your side, the shadows here get beary restless. And when shadows get restless, the strongest ones draw in the weakest, and form a super shadow!"

"We've, uh, been in here for at least an hour. We should probably get out of here and check on Chie, huh?"

Yosuke starts freaking out. "Oh shit! There aren't any TV's!"

Teddie has us covered though, and somehow summons a stack of televisions from the sky. I manage to squeeze through one, and decide it would be one hell of a good idea to just bring one in next time.

Chie is... Not pleased. She yells at us for a minute or two, then runs off in some random direction. Eh, I'll toss her in the TV tomorrow. It never hurts to have more persona users. Especially with a serial murderer that, apparently, has some form of the Power as well.

AN:

Minato's second chapter. I have plans. Sort of. This was gonna be a 2-author fic, but I never got a chance to talk the other dude into it.


End file.
